I love Celga and have never had an issue with them but yeah . . . their conversion ratio kinda stung more than usual on the recent purchases.

Stated clearly here:
Q: How do you calculate exchange rate of yen to dollars?
A: Our exchange rate reflects the actual rate our bank gives us. This is somewhat less than the rates posted on many currency site on the web. Those figures are the Interbank Exchange Rates, the very best rates available which banks offer only to each other. We wish we were offered those rates!

The only folks making a "few more bucks" are the banks who pocket the difference between interbank versus bank-to-consumer.

And yeah, you know my posts on this make me sound like a shill despite the fact I have no connection to Celga. But now this exchange rate discussion is exactly what I said; one person starts a complaint thread with a real issue and then everyone shows up with their pet peeves that may/may not hold water. Yeeesh.

I certainly wasn't saying that.

On a totally different topic, I've never had any issues with Rinkya.

;p

Rinkya is good, as is Tokyobuyers. People have choices, and in this situation, the other choices have better exchange rates on a consistent basis. Oh and they actually return emails too in my experience. The last 5 I sent to Celga when I was still a customer went unanswered.

I just noticed this thread is almost a year old...what I think it needs now is a big

Bottom line folks: choose whatever service works best for you.

i've been trying to get my gold account cancelled for almost 2 weeks

Once again, I'll have to recommend Tokyo Buyers. Not only are their rates and services good, but they are close personal friends of mine. So I know that they'll do right by you.

http://tokyobuyers.blogspot.com/

Hillsy? Roger? Seriously, you guys aren't on board yet??

shhhhhh! cmon man!

I just started using Tokyo Buyers and won my first auction with them and it was smooth. There response time is very fast.

I dunno... i just hate emailing someone to bid on something for me and hoping it happens. I love the control you have with Celga Gold to do your own bidding. but that's just me. i'm a control freak

Crescent Shop allows you to all your own bidding (just like Celga Gold) without any yearly fees at all. Ever lose an auction to cre*****? That's a real time Crescent Shop bid. When you log in you even have a watch list just like ebay. It's as simple as that. I'm currently using nothing because the exchange rate sucks, but one day it will be better (hopefully)

Did you ask Kohei to set you up with an account?

Yeah I thought it said somewhere on TB that they can set up a personal account so you can do your own bidding. Just used them last week, although I didn't when my bid they were very fast when replying, and their rates are the best I've found.

Several goods folks here have highly recommended Tokyo Buyer for my Rangeas wants. I have yet to try it fearing that Pandora"s Box effect it might cause financialy,lol. Looks like it time to jump in. Thanks Nekrodave for that last push.

oh...if you can set up your own YJA account, that would be very good....!

Ouch!
$101 shipping invoice

I don't hate them for this as it's my fault for buying heavy and expensive to insure stuff!

one month and they still havent cancelled my account

Yadda yadda . . .

Is that allot? Don't you have to pay the Shipping from the seller to CELGA and then the Shipping form CELGA to the US? That doesn't sound so bad, but too much for me to even think about considering.

Hmm I wonder how many figures that comes to weight wise? I recall having 5-6 Shikaruna figures (heavier and larger) and about 5 M1go's in one box and shipping was still under or around 50 bucks. Then again this was August 08, perhaps the exchange was far more favorable.

If this 'celga' auction site demands "an instant 1/2 deposit of your maximum bid upfront" as you say, then it appears that they will know what your high bid is!
This seems to defeat the system of an internet auction service where your high bid is completely private, ebay is a good example of an ethical process.
Your high bid should not be known to some executive bloke, the program should simply proxy bid for you, privately.
If they are worried about deadbeat bidders then they should require a deposit for nubies to be able to bid and it should have nothing to do with any particular auction.
An online auction site should not be asking people for money before an auction! They should find another way to qualify bidders, and or take their licks with non payers.
This 'celga' appears to be a very dishonest company. Buying cheaper stuff might be alright but I would not trust them on expensive items.
After reading of all your complaints, including a very serious one that "they became curt and obtaining refunds was difficult (on unsuccessful auctions)" I cannot see the point of endorsing using this site at all.

Celga has to eat the cost if a bidder balks at paying for an auction.
If you lose an auction, your deposit can be applied to future auctions.

I am willing to endorse Celga as I've never had a problem with them over the course of four years.
Nothing lost. Nothing arrived broken. Good communication. Willing to work deals on high ticket items.

You're out of bounds when you describe them as a "dishonest company".
But then you have never used them and have only been on this board for a month...

Huh? Celga is not an auction site. Celga is a third party business that bids on auctions on YJA. Of course they know what your high bid is..especially since they are placing the high bid for you. Most if not all 3rd parties (Celga, tokyobuyers etc) if I'm not mistaken will know what you are bidding. It's a different beast then ebay. And I agree...an online auction site should not be asking for money before an auction. But what does that have to do with Celga and YJA? They are two different things.

I have celga gold and bid on the things I want but as far as I know...in order to bid on items on Yahoo Japan Auctions you normally need a third party because they don't ship outside Japan.

If people are dissatisfied with the customer service..I don't blame them if they switch but there are a lot of people who are regularly satisfied with the service that Celga provides.

Maybe read these pros and cons with a grain of salt and check out their FAQ section.

It baffles me why someone would comment on a website service that they do not understand and have never used. Is it that much fun to post?

Well I guess its just a different system. And for the record I never said 'celga' is a dishonest auction site. I said it "appears" to be a dishonest site, big difference. I am glad you agree with half of what what I said however what happened to scullbrainer Lixx when reading his thread seems to point to the negative. I use auction sites all over the world and participate in old fashioned auctions as well and the bidder should have more rights than how Lixx was treated by 'celga'!